Ashes of the Realm: Book 04 - The Return of the Realm (22 page)

“I know. What do you want to do after this meeting?”

“I have no plans. Whatever you want to do is fine.”

Valerie saw his sadness and knew his spirit was sinking into a spiral of depression. Even she couldn’t snap him out of it. He blamed himself for so much. Suddenly, Twig appeared in front of the Throne and bowed.

Danielle smiled, “Welcome to Ross, Elder. What brings you to visit us?”

Twig straightened and said, “We were asked to build a psychic ship that I believe is now commanded by Cassandra and Junior.”

Trey said, “Yes, I asked BC to get with you to complete the construction.”

“We carried out that request but BC said something that has caused a problem.”

Danielle asked, “What was that?”

Twig leaned slightly back showing her discomfort and said, “Well, when he sent us the plans and the uncompleted ship he said that a second ship was needed.”

Danielle nodded, “That’s right. We already had the Scotty Robbins.”

“Welllll, our engineers didn’t know about the Robbins.”

Everyone was silent. After a long moment Tag said, “What are you telling us, Twig?”

“Uh…we built two of them.”

Trey said, “There’s a third ship!?!”

Twig gave a mental sigh and said, “Yes, and we found out our error when we asked BC where the third ship should be sent. His words were, “What third ship?”“

Trey didn’t know what to think. He thought about a third ship and heard music in his mind. He closed his eyes and let his mind go free. While the others began discussing the development, Cassie entered his mind and followed the vision that he was seeing. She jerked her eyes open and looked at Jake and Valerie who were sitting off from the group looking very unhappy. A moment later Trey opened his eyes and looked at her. Cassie looked at him and said, “How do you feel about that?”

Trey smiled, “Redemption comes in such different forms, my love.”

Cassie turned to Danielle and said, “The third ship is not a mistake.”

Danielle and Twig stopped in midsentence and stared at her.

“That ship was a psychic vision that someone in this room, had but didn’t say anything about it.”

Everyone looked around at each other and then they saw Valerie with a guilty expression. She saw Jake look at her after he saw them staring. “I did have a dream about a psychic ship that Jake and I were using to fight for Creation.”

Jake furrowed his brow, “When?”

“I just thought it was wishful thinking. I know we want to fight for Creation, but I assumed we would never be trusted again. I just thought I dreamed about something I wanted so much.” She paused and saw everyone’s expressions and said, “The dream did seem so real.”

Danielle and Twig turned to Trey. He said, “This is just more proof that psychic visions cannot be avoided. The ship was built anyway.” He walked over to Jake and Valerie and held out his hand, “I welcome you to the quest and I know you will make a huge difference in our coming struggle.”

Jake looked at Trey, “Can you trust me?”

Trey smiled, “That’s the wrong question, Jake. You are chosen by the Creative Force and I absolutely trust those decisions. You need to start doing the same.” Trey turned to Twig and said, “You need to build a fourth.”

Tag looked at around the room and said, “For who? Who is left that can command it?”

“Paul and TK Blake are second generation psychics. The ship will be theirs.”

Danielle looked at Twig and said, “Emperor Robbins has requested your assistance.”

Twig looked at Trey and back to Danielle, “Emperor?”

“Yes and the Stars Realm is one of his subjects. We have sworn our loyalty to him and he is our supreme ruler.”

“When did this happen?”

“About a week ago; we just haven’t announced it yet. Please enter my mind and let me show you what led to this decision.”

Twig went into Danielle’s mind and after forty seconds she leaned forward, “You are so wise. That is exactly what we should be doing.” She turned and bowed to Trey, “We will have your ship ready in ninety days.”

“Please rise, Twig; thank you for your support.”

“We are sworn to you by our oath to the Realm. Your commands will be followed, Your Majesty.”

Trey turned to Jake and Valerie and said, “We should go and power your ship. We need to select the ships that will provide the computers to assist you first.”

Jake looked excited, “I know one of them. Al and Fly Girl’s son, Junior will be one of them. He can select his partner.”

Danielle said, “Where is Junior?”

“He’s with Al and Fly Girl in another universe.”

“Perhaps his parents might want another go at the Demons?”

“That is a great suggestion. I’ll ask them.”

Valerie saw Jake coming alive. He was needed again and he was starting to get excited. Then she heard Cassandra say something that caught her attention, “I need to make a short trip with Tim.”

Trey and Danielle looked at her and she said, “I need to go back to the Captor’s former home world.”

Danielle asked, “Why do you need to do that?”

“I need to remember when I was most alive and that is where it was. I want to feel it again.”

Danielle looked at Trey as she said said, “Take your journey. I hope it’s all you think it is.”

Trey looked at Cassie and she said, “We also need to go.”

“I know.”

Danielle thought to Tag, “Let’s go home.” Tag nodded and reached for her hand.

Valerie thought to Trey, “We are also making a trip.”

“Where?”

“It’ll be a surprise.”

Jake smiled, “I bet it will.”

• • •

Valerie sat in the Pilot’s chair on the small white ship and Jake smiled, “Where are we going?”

“We’re going to where it all started.”

“What started?”

“Your view of life. You need to take another look.”

Jake’s expression turned serious as Valerie hit the teleport board. An instant later they were looking down on a beautiful green and blue planet. Jake started to say something to Valerie but saw the world hanging in space and could say nothing.

“That’s right, Jake; Gambia. This is where you learned to hate.”

Jake listened but didn’t take his eyes of the display. Finally he said softly, “It was never this beautiful before. The huge ghettos and black smoke from heavy industry made the world look brown when I was a child.”

Jake took the controls and moved the ship into the atmosphere. Valerie watched the planet grow closer and asked, “Where are you going?”

“Home.”

Valerie watched his expression and thought, “Good.”

• • •

Jake landed the ship outside the ruins of a large city. Everything was overgrown with plant life and the streets had been eroded by thousands of years of rain and seasonal change. He walked from the ship toward a bridge that had fallen into the river. The river was clear and flowing quickly out to the ocean ten miles away. Jake walked down to the bank and put his hands in the water. He looked across the river to the far shore and said in a still, quiet, voice, “This is where I pulled Robby out of the river. I didn’t get here in time to save him and he drowned about a hundred yards out. I know his pain was unbearable and he knew he was a burden on the family feeding him.” Jake looked up at Valerie, “I caused his death.” Valerie started to disagree but Jake held up his hand and put it over her mouth, “I know; it was my latent psychic power that really caused it, but it happened to protect me.” Jake looked out at the river again and said, “My anger at his death is what drove me. I hated the upper class merchants that spoiled our lives and now I can see our planet as well.”

Jake looked up at Valerie, “Why has no one ever come back and settled on this planet after the Keepers destroyed the population?”

“Everyone thought it was bad luck.”

“Why?”

“You never came back. They followed your lead.”

“It is a beautiful world now.”

“Yes it is, but you need to understand something.”

Jake looked up at Valerie, “What?”

“Gambia is a microcosm of what is happening in Creation. There are trillions of Robbys that are being killed every day by the aggressive, evil civilizations that are destroying planets. They are bombing them and often beaming them out of existence. You never came back here and made the ones that killed Robby pay for their crime. You were happy that the Keepers did it for you.”

Jake looked down at the ground and Valerie said, “And when the millions of innocent died with the evil merchants, you were still happy. How many Robbys died that day, Jake? You only cared about those in your family. The other millions were not your concern.”

Jake said, “We fought each other every day just to get something to eat.”

“And it was not their fault; they were forced to do it to survive. We are going out to save Creation and you are going to have to see that there are so many innocent beings that we have to care about and be willing to die to save them. Can you do that?”

Jake closed his eyes and remembered wrestling with Robby on the filthy cardboard that was the floor of their one room house. He and Robby ended up laughing so hard that they couldn’t breathe. He realized that it wasn’t the poverty that made him sad; it was the loss of his brother and family. He was struck with the realization that he was happy even in the filth and starvation of Gambia. He found joy in his family. It also broke into his consciousness that the millions of the poor, starving, lower class citizens were also happy and had lives that they made the most of. He slowly started nodding and said, “I owe it to Robby…I owe it to Gambia.” He looked up at Valerie and took a deep breath, “We should have come here long ago.”

“We’re here now and that’s all we have to work with. Are you ready?”

Jake stood and Valerie saw the determination in his eyes, “Please announce to the Realm that we will be moving here when we retire.”

Valerie smiled, “When will we build a home?”

“They’ll start tomorrow.” Valerie hugged Jake and he held her close. She realized that with that announcement, there would be a rush of settlers coming back to this quarantined planet. It was going to live again.

He looked back at the river and thought, “I’ll make it up to you, Robby, I promise.”

• • •

Trey and Cassie were in the Robbins looking down on the devastated remains of Bristone. The cracks in the surface had finally hardened and the streams of lava had abated. There was still a minimal atmosphere, but not enough to support animal life. As they looked at the surface they saw small areas of green. Cassie said, “Bristone will live again in the far future.”

Trey nodded and thought about the night his family had died. He would always have that vision burned into his memory, but the pain of it was slowly ebbing. He knew that it had to happen in order for the subsequent events to take place. He took a deep breath and said, “Let’s go to El Prado.”

AK said, “On our way.”

The Robbins arrived and made orbit above the former site of the Cainth and Human Communities at an hour before twilight. Everything had been taken by the huge Ging Trees, except the clearing that had once been the site of the community fire. The huge Ging Tree roots had taken different routes decades ago and new growths only occurred at the end of their long runners. The clearing had brush that had grown up but was still accessible.

Trey looked at Cassie and nodded. They disappeared from the Robbin’s Bridge and appeared on the edge of the clearing. Cassie moved under his arm and they stared at the place where so much history of the Empire had been made. Trey activated his armor and used his beam to burn the brush in the clearing down to the dirt. He walked over and picked up some dead branches that had fallen and walked into the flames and put the branches in a pile. The brush went up quickly and revealed the old Ging Trunks that had originally surrounded the fire. They were so hard the fire, did not affect them. The branches he piled in the middle of the clearing caught fire and he went and picked up several large ones to put on top of the fire. He walked back to Cassie and they watched the fire start burning.

Trey looked behind them and said, “Follow me and keep your armor activated.”

Trey took Cassie’s hand and led her along a large Ging root away from the settlement. After a short walk, they arrived at a slope that was starting to show signs of plant life. Trey went to a large Ging Root on the edge of the slope, sat down, and leaned back against the log. Cassie looked around and then sat down with him.

“You know we’re being watched?”

“Yes, I sensed them as soon as we arrived.”

“I wonder why they haven’t attacked.”

“They’ve called for help. They saw me burn the clearing and that made them pause. I sense they remember the last contact with the communities.”

Night was falling fast and Trey looked up at the stars starting to shine above the clearing. He deactivated his helmet and placed his weapons on manual control. “Is that a good idea, Trey?”

“I want to see the stars like my family did. Looking at them through the helmet is not what I need; besides, I can see them without my scanners.”

Cassie closed her eyes for a moment and said, “They’re waiting on the pride leader to arrive. He’s about an hour away.” Cassie deactivated her helmet and looked up at the stars. The sun had fallen behind the horizon of the wastelands and the number of stars appearing was an incredible vision. First the bright stars shone through the falling light and then thousands of others started appearing. After fifteen minutes the sky was bathed in a breathtaking panorama of billions of stars stretching from horizon to horizon.

“You’re right, Trey. This is beautiful beyond words.”

They lay in silence and after a moment they heard the music. Trey smiled and said, “This is where Creation gave my grandfather his vision. This is where he asked Julie to marry him. This is where he found balance when he was troubled.”

“What does creation want us to do, Trey?”

“You really don’t know?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Just lay here with me and feel the moment, Cassie. There is still love here that can be felt.” Cassie leaned back and stared at the stars and listened to them sing to her.